Julie Bishop donating yet another $25 million, but not to Australia disasters

Federal Government creates emergency relief fund for Indo-Pacific region yet leaves our farmers and small business in regional areas to cope with predatory banks and their dodgy receivers selling off farms and closing businesses. Where is the Labor Party Opposition?

Does this make you proud Julie and Malcolm you are both a bloody disgrace

The federal government has announced it will provide a further $25 million in funding towards aid in Syria and Iraq.

The funding will be drawn out of Australia’s emergency relief fund, which is usually provided to disaster-stricken areas in the Indo-Pacific region. There is no relief fund set up by any government for Australian disasters to draw from.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop announced the funding at the Syria Donors Conference in London on Thursday. It brings Australia’s total assistance to Iraq and Syria to $258 million since 2011.

On Tuesday, Bishop met with a small group of foreign ministers, including US Secretary of State John Kerry, to discuss the humanitarian crisis in Syria and how they can combat the Islamic State.

In a media release on Thursday Minister Bishop said the latest additional aid funding from Australia “will support civilians affected by the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

“In Syria, 13.5 million people require urgent humanitarian assistance. A further 4.6 million Syrians are refugees in neighbouring countries. An estimated 10 million people in Iraq also require urgent humanitarian support this year.”

The federal government will also deploy ten Australian Civilian Corps specialists to help protect Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, working with UN and NGO partners who provide water, camps and education to those in need.

Of the $25 million in new funds, $20 million will go to Syrian aid partners and other aid groups working in the region including UNICEF, WFP, UNHCR and Australian NGOs.

Iraq will receive the remaining $5 million, including $2 million provided to the United Nations Development Programme.

The extra funding comes after the government’s foreign aid funding was cut by $1 billion in the 2015 budget and a huge $7.6 billion was cut — over five years — in the 2014 budget.

One Comment

This news is a bloody disgrace and I hope the next election gives the government a royal KICK in the YES! It just demonstrates how the the pack of deviates really operate.First we send our Air force over with bombers to destroy the country and its people, and now they deny the hard done by Australians any help at all. Voters please take note and spread the word and vote the major parties OUT.I am willing to bet that our lone senator BOB KATTER will be very much against this act of treachery.